The quantum potential approach makes it possible to construct a complementary picture of quantum mechanical evolution which reminds classical equation of motion. The only difference as compared to equations of motion for the underlying classical system is the presence of an additional potential term being a functional of the real part of the wavefunction. In the present paper this approach is applied to the quantum theory of gravity based on Wheeler -- De Witt equation. We describe the derivation of the `quantum Einstein equation' and discuss the new features of their solutions.
The quantum potential approach makes it possible to construct a complementary picture of quantum mechanical evolution which reminds classical equation of motion. The only difference as compared to equations of motion for the underlying classical system is the presence of an additional potential term being a functional of the real part of the wavefunction. In the present paper this approach is applied to the quantum theory of gravity based on Wheeler -- De Witt equation. We describe the derivation of the `quantum Einstein equation' and discuss the new features of their solutions.
The quantum potential approach makes it possible to construct a complementary picture of quantum mechanical evolution which reminds classical equation of motion. The only difference as compared to equations of motion for the underlying classical system is the presence of an additional potential term being a functional of the real part of the wavefunction. In the present paper this approach is applied to the quantum theory of gravity based on Wheeler – De Witt equation. We describe the derivation of the ‘quantum Einstein equation ’ and discuss the new features of their solutions. It gives me great pleasure to contribute this article to the volume in honor of Professor Jerzy Lukierski. I clearly remember when, still being a student, I have met him for the first time during one of the winter Karpacz schools in late 1970s. Since then he was always close to me, first as an advisor and referee of my PhD thesis, and then as a close collaborator in many research projects and a very good friend. I cannot possibly fully pay my debt to him; let this article be at least an expression of acknowledgement of what I owe him. 2.
Abstract We derive the quantum Einstein equations (which are the quantum generalisation of the Einstein equations of classical gravity) from Bohmian quantum gravity. Bohmian quantum gravity is a non-classical geometrodynamics (in the ADM formalism) which describes the time evolution of a three-geometry and of a matter field (or other matter degrees of freedom) on a three manifold. The evolution is determined by a velocity law which is defined by the wave function. The wave function itself satisfies the Wheeler–DeWitt equation. We cast the Bohmian dynamics into the form of the Einstein field equations, where the interesting novelty is a contribution to the energy–momentum tensor that depends on the quantum potential.
The de Broglie–Bohm theory allows us to have got a satisfactory geometrodynamic interpretation of quantum mechanics. The fundamental element, which creates a geometrodynamic picture of the quantum world in the non-relativistic domain, a relativistic curved space-time background, and the quantum gravity domain, is the quantum potential. It is shown that, in the non-relativistic domain, the geometrodynamic nature of the quantum potential followsfrom the fact that it is an information potential containing a space-like active information on the environment; the geometric properties of the space expressed by the quantum potential determine non-local correlations between subatomic particles. Moreover, in the de Broglie–Bohm theory in a curved space-time, it is shown that the quantum, as well as the gravitational, effects of matter have geometric nature and are highly related: the quantum potential can be interpreted as the conformal degree of freedom of the space-time metric, and its presence is equivalent to the curved space-time. It is shown on the basis of some recent research that, in quantum gravity, we have a generalized geometric unification of gravitational and quantum effects of matter; Bohm's interpretation shows that the form of a quantum potential and its relation to the conformal degree of freedom of the space-time metric can be derived from the equations of motion.
The formulation of a consistent scheme for treating semiclassical systems is considered, giving particular emphasis to the case of gravity. A critical review of the semiclassical problem is first given, stressing the conceptual aspects of the topic; the theory usually adopted is found to be unsatisfactory, and the need to have an unambiguous interpretation of quantum mechanics before trying to give an alternative description is realized. Our way to arrive at such an interpretation is rather unusual, but it presents the advantage of being almost compelling in the choice to make: First, we reformulate the Schrodinger equation as a set of hydrodynamical equations involving quantities which formally play the role of mass density, velocity and pressure for a fluid; the problem of interpreting the wave function is thus reduced to that of interpreting these quantities. We then show how they can be derived from the Wigner distribution function exactly as in the usual formalism of kinetic theory, and discuss how this fact provides strong support in favour of the statistical interpretation of quantum theory, according to which the state vector describes only ensembles, and not individual systems. We also consider some implications of these results on the possible existence of a more fundamental theory underlying quantum mechanics. It is shown that reconsidering the semiclassical problem in the light of the statistical interpretation, one is led to distinguish between a strongly and a weakly semiclassical regime, which are essentially characterized by the size of the statistical dispersion induced in the observables of the classical subsystem by the coupling to the quantum one. It turns out that in the weakly semiclassical regime, in which this dispersion is not negligible, the concept of coupling equations cannot be successfully applied, and one has rather to define a probability distribution even for the values of the classical observables; an hypothesis which allows to specify such a distribution is enunciated. Several examples of the application of these general principles are considered, and it is shown how the treatment of semiclassical relativistic fields requires a much more sophisticated treatment of the quantum source. This is provided reformulating quantum theory in terms of a quasiprobability functional P[1] in the space of the histories of the system. It is shown how such a functional allows to reconstruct the usual phase space distributions when integrated over suitable sets of paths, in a way which clarify the relations between operator ordering, path integration and phase space treatment of quantum theory. The relativistic extension of p[f] is also constructed, and an explicitly covariant version of relativistic quantum theory is discussed in some details. It is shown how the latter allows, formally, to consider superpositions of different mass eigenstates, although such superpositions are not directly observable. Finally, the application of these new techniques to the treatment of semiclassical electromagnetism and gravity, as well as of a scalar field, are considered. It is shown how the usual semiclassical field equations, suitably reinterpreted in terms of averages of the field, are recovered either in linear cases or in the strongly semiclassical regime, but that they do not hold in general. Finally, some possible extensions and implications of the formalism are discussed.
Abstract We present an exact quantum observable analog of the weak equivalence principle for a ‘relativistic’ quantum particle. The quantum geodesic equations are obtained from Heisenberg equations of motion as an exact analog of a fully covariant classical Hamiltonian evolution picture, with the proper identification of the canonical momentum variables as p µ , rather than p µ . We discuss the meaning of the equations in relation to projective measurements as well as equations with solution curves as ones in the noncommutative geometric picture of spacetime, and a plausible approach to quantum gravity as a theory about quantum observables as physical quantities including the notion of quantum coordinate transformation.